Frequent Modern Reformation contributer Philip Ryken's Written in Stone is a wonderfully accessible treatment of the Ten Commandments. Drawn from sermons first preached at Tenth Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia, this book's great strength is its unoriginality. In an age where many evangelicals have jettisoned the moral law and some Reformed types have overreacted by making the law part of the grounds for justification, Ryken's book stands firmly in the broad Reformed consensus, represented by the Westminster Standards, on the abiding validity of the moral law for today, on the three uses of the moral law, and on the exposition of the moral law. Even more, Ryken models how the moral law should point us to Christ. Each chapter concludes with searching application questions that are meant to reveal our abiding sinfulness and our continual need for the gospel of Jesus Christ. Who can read the various chapters on each individual commandment and not come away convicted of moral failure in the face of a holy God?
Hence, believers who read this book come to realize that even holiness is by God's grace. Even though believers have the Spirit, they still have remaining corruption and still need the gospel preached to them. As a result, a healthy view of the relationship of the law and the gospel is the great contribution of this book for a general audience. In addition, with its thirteen chapters and study questions at the end of each chapter, this book would be extremely useful for a Bible study or Sunday school class.
